everything started when when i changed the Windows system locale and I got the databases of MPE Windows client corrupted due to the fact that MPE Windows client
LACKS UNICODE SUPPORT
then I tried to build again the calls and sms databases from cero (thanks to the fact that i did not rely exclusively on MPE to backup calls and sms)
then I noticed that the number of entries differed in the restored and the original corrupted files
a closer look pointed at the problem:
MPE WINDOWS CLIENT DOES NOT CARE ABOUT TIME ZONE!!!
this has nasty consequences:
- call log
call entries downloaded to MPE when in timezone2 get duplicated (that is, downloaded again with different timestamp) when changing back to timezone1
**(when in timezone1 or timezone2, i mean that both computer and phone are set up to use the same timezone1 or timezone2)
- sms log
total mess. some sms has timestamp according to timezone1 while others according to timezone2. I noticed that sent messages had the same timestamp in both corrupted and recovered profiles, while incoming sms had different timestamps (time offset equal to the timezone difference). weird. i hate it
Forgive me if I am wrong, i cannot see anything from the closed format .dat files, but it seems that MPE Windows client does not assign the java timestamp (like e.g. Ritesh Sahu apps do) to call entries and messages, thus the sms and call entries interface cannot display the real timestamp (absolute date and time according to the local timezone, like e.g. Windows Explorer does).
So, MPE Call and SMS backup leads to loss of data, what about the other backup features:
NOTES:
it also leads to data loss, as it does not support unicode. i get ???????? ????? ???? in many of my notes. (syncing to outlook does not help in this regard)
There is no archive feature in MPE Windows client Notes, and when one deletes a note from device it also gets deleted from MPE upon synchronization. That pushed me to try syncing to Outlook, but realized not only that Outlook does not have archive feature neither (which causes two way syncing to copy old notes back to the device), but also does not conserve lastedited_date and created_date timestamps (present in the android app databases), instead, it assigns the same timestamp to all notes, that being the date and time the notes were copied to Outlook. Lousy
Ideally, MPE Windows client would just work with the android sql databases (as opposed to the closed format files it uses now)
Also, there are much better Notes applications for windows out there.
The best one I found is QuickFox Notes, which is a Firefox, Thunderbird opensource addon (that can also be launched separately with command line switch -qfn), as well as an stand alone application. It supports extensions which add capabilities like clipping a note to OneNote (not that i like OneNote)
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunde ... fox-notes/
FILE SYNCING:
It is well know the adb problem with unicode filenames (so i guess MPE W c is not to blame

)
However there are workarounds.
As a matter of fact I wrote a script 1.5 years back that was able to push files with asian names... (then i broke the hdd and did not work on it again)
Not tested:
http://ishare.iask.sina.com.cn/f/34648560.html
CONTACTS:
Working fine. Thanks!
CALENDAR AND TASKS:
Working quite fine. Thanks!
The only shortcoming noticed so far is that one cannot choose calendars to synch to Thunderbird.
As it is now, MPE still is an incredibly valuable piece of software, but if sms, calls, notes and files were working perfectly, i would be very willing to pay for it